Best homeowners insurance?

GeddesHouseMay 26, 2003

I've got State Farm right now, and have had them for everything since the 60s. But the new little antique house I bought needs a new roof sometime in the future. I've had disparate opinions on whether it needs to be replaced NOW or not. The inspector found NO signs of leakage, and neither has anyone else who has looked at it since. But State Farm says it needs replaced now or they will not renew my policy on it in June.

The house is on the National Register, and so it needs to be an historic roof. I will need time and multiple estimates to accomplish that the way it should be accomplished.

So in the mean time I'm looking for alternative insurance company. Anybody got any recommendations?

Linda, I sympathize. I think any of us living in coastal areas are having a particularly hard time these days. My insurance company would not even touch a home I just bought as in investment property because I'm a mile from the Florida coast and 200 feet from the bay.

I suggest you call your lender and have them give you a few names. I can't close without fire, flood, and windstorm insurance, so he was able to provide me with a couple of companies he knows want the business. All the new company wanted was a short report from my home inspector about the condition of four things: roof, plumbing, electric, and a/c. It was easy.

My lifelong homeowner's insurance company was being really ridiculous. The roof on the new house is less than 10 years old and has no leaks. It's been prepared with the ideal substance for a roof of this kind. All the inspector suggested was that, for greater longevity, I coat the roof with a white sealer, and just on that one point, they rejected me.

Call your lender and see if they can help. Good luck with what sounds like a wonderful home. I hope you can point us to some pictures, I'd love to see it.

You have my sympathies, too, Linda. I'm in a similar situationÂand in the northeast, very much inland. I received a letter from my insurance company a couple of days ago saying that they'll cancel my policy unless I repaint the house siding, replace window casings, erect a fence around the swimming pool, and remove the diving board.

This is a blow. I was already planning to replace the siding, but why should they care if my house needs paint or not? I imagine the window casings, whatever they are, will be part of the new siding project. I'll ask the contractor. But the pool is a major problem. I had arranged to have a number of home repairs done, and the list didn't include a fence. I live alone out in the country with no neighbors. In 16 years the only accident that happened with the pool is the drowning of one of my cats (so now they're all indoors). The pool, by the way, is covered securely with a bolted-down safety cover, and hasn't been opened since my daughter died two years ago, simply because I haven't had the energy to open and maintain it. Now I'm thinking if I put up a fence using money presently assigned to another project, I may find a few years down the road that the pool needs a new liner, or filter, or whatever, and I won't be able to afford it. So I'm investigating the possibility of having the pool filled in. My other (grown) children haven't wanted me to do that, and I agree it has been and can be a beautiful pool, but I feel as though I'm between that proverbial rock and hard place.

Incidentally, Linda, I'm told Allstate is a little more liberal about things. (But they, too, insist on a pool fence.)

Well, of course they insist on a pool fence--as should everyone. Pools are an incredible LIABILITY. I live in NC and we've had a couple of deaths in the last two months--little kids who drowned in UNFENCED POOLS. What insurance company wants to cope with that? I grew up in a house with a pool--it was fenced on three sides, with the house forming hte fourth side. We never had a mishap, because the doors of the house stayed LOCKED unless a reponsible person (read-my mom) was out by the pool. Granted--this was neccessary because we had little kids in the house,(my sisters are 10 and 12 years younger than I) but it's a good idea even if there aren't children in the house. The gates to the pool stayed latched at all times, as well.

SO---I don't blame the insurance companies, on hte pool issue, anyway. I will admit that they ARE getting ridiculous about roofs.

Alisande, re the unused pool - I would find out how much you are paying in property taxes on the pool that you're not even using. If it's as high as it is here in metro NYC, you might want to decommission it. Maybe there's a way to do it in such a way that you don't have to rebuild it entirely if you later decide you want it again. I.e., re-purpose the container as a bog garden or a rose garden? Just a thought.